Many fire extinguishing compositions have heretofore been proposed. Those believed by me to most closely resemble the compositions disclosed herein are described in U.S. Pat. No. 80,770 issued 4 Aug. 1868 to Galbraith for IMPROVED COMPOUND FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRES; U.S. Pat. No. 431,985 issued 8 July 1890 to Martin for FIRE-EXTINGUISHING COMPOUNDS; U.S. Pat. No. 836,265 issued 20 Nov. 1906 to Mayer for FIRE-EXTINGUISHING COMPOUND; U.S. Pat. No. 1,716,476 issued 11 June 1929 to Austin for FIRE-EXTINGUISHING LIQUID; U.S. Pat. No. 2,388,014 issued 30 Oct. 1945 to Sargent et al. for FIRE EXTINGUISHING COMPOSITION; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,768,952 issued 30 Oct. 1956 to Anthony, Jr. for COMPOSITION AND METHOD OF EXTINGUISHING LIGHT METAL FIRES; and in German Offenlegungsschrift No. DE 3634125 Al laid open to public inspection 21 Apr. 1988 and entitled Feuerloschlosung zum Loschen von Phosphor- und Metallbraden. A similar fire extinguishing composition intended to be used in powder form is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,095,372 issued 25 June 1963 to Cope.
In each case, however, the previously disclosed fire extinguishing composition lacks one or more properties which applicant has found highly desirable in, if not essential to, a composition of the character in question. These, typically present drawbacks of the compositions disclosed in the above cited prior art are: inability of the composition to prevent reignition of the combustible material, once a fire has been extinguished; inability to reduce the temperature of the burning material at a rapid enough rate to allow a fire to be expeditiously extinguished; and an inability to penetrate common combustible materials to the extent necessary for a fire extinguishing composition to: (a) be effective and (b) absorb thermal energy from the burning material once it has been penetrated by the composition.
In addition, previously proposed fire extinguishing compositions of the same general character as those disclosed herein are apt to freeze, especially when sprayed at low temperatures. This significantly limits the utility of such compositions as they cannot be used during the winter months in the colder geographical regions and in other circumstances where sub-freezing temperatures prevail.